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UBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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THE NATION'S GEIEF FOR ITS FALLEN CHIEF. 



A SERMON 



PREACHED IN THE 



irsf ii0ipe0atj0»a! ^lapl, 



PHILADELPHIA, 



BahhchtJh Eue-nzTig, -flprzl ^3d, 1&68, 



BY THE TASTOR, 



lE^Ev. 3D. L. C3-E-A.:E^. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

BINGWALT A BUOWN, STEAM-POWER PRINTBES, 

111 and 113 S. Fourth Street. 
1866. 






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Philadelphia, April 25th, 1865. 
Rev. D. L. Gear: 

Dear Sir — The undersigned, Avith many others, having listened, with unmingled i 
approbation, to your sermon last evening, in the First Congregational Chapel, on 
"The Nation's Grief for its Fallen Chief," and being desirous of having it in a 
permanent form, respectfully request a copy of it for publication. 
We are, very respectfully, 

Deacon CHARLES H. OWENS, 
Deacon JOHN H. OSGOOD, 
^ CHAS. McCLINTOCK, 

WM. T. HUNTER, 
JAMES B. MURRAY, 
HENRY SNYDER, 
JOHN W. SPRATT, and others. 



Philadelphia, April 26, 1865. 

Gentlemen: — The sermon you have requested of me for publication, is submit 
ted to your disposal. 1 scarcely need say, what every reader M'ill discover for 
himself, that it was written in the greatest possible haste, a large part of it in the 
afternoon of the Sabbath in the evening of which it was preached, and goes to the 
printer without the slightest revision. Nevertheless, its simple and unadorned 
thoughts I believe to be truthful and not untimely, and, therefore, unfinished and 
imperfect as I know it to be, yield it to your kind solicitation. 

AYith great respect, 

D. L. GEAR. 

To Messrs. C. H. Owen, J. H. Osgood, C. McClintock, and others. 



1898 






SERMON. 

Hold, Fir Tree, /or the Cedar is Falkn. — ZECirARlAll xi. 2. 



In the days of the Prophet, the Cedar tree was the chief of the forest. 
It was tall, fragrant and durable. We read of oue that was one hundred 
and twenty feet round at the top, and thirty-five or forty feet round at the 
stump or stock, (^edar wood was found fresh in the temple of T^ntica, in 
Barbary, two thousand years after it was built. It is on this account that 
the Bible, which is pre-eminently a book of comparisons, so often makes 
it the type of great and renowned men, such as the kings and rulers of 
the earth. This class of men are supposed not only to have pre-eminence 
of position and authority, but also to be raised above the level of the 
, masses of the people, in spirit, knowledge and power of endurance, that they 
may be for bulwarks of defence, both to nations and churches when storms 
of trouble come. This makes a wise and just ruler, like our late Presi- 
dent, now gone to a martyr's grave, the confidence, the delight, and the 
strength of a virtuous and loyal people. The removal of such a ruler by 
the hand of violence is a national calamity, and therefore a just ground 
for lamentation. This is the point of instruction in the text. The 
Prophet was speaking of dire evils, soon to come upon the Jewish people, 
not the least of which would be the loss of their eminent and mighty 
men. The sentiments and emotions with which they should deplore the 
loss is that of deep, wailing sorrow. This is expressed in the text in a 
figurative way: — " Howl, Fir tree, for the Cedar is fallen!' 

I. — LET us ATTEND TO SOME OF THE DISTINCTIONS THAT EXIST 

AMONG 5IEN. 

There are diversities in the forest, one tree being taller and more 
valuable than another. There are diversities in the sky, "one star differ- 
ing from another star in glory." So there are diversities among men, 
one man towering in noble pre-eminence over his fellow-men. 

First — There is the pre-eminence of intellectual ability. The idea 
that all men are born with the same measure of mental capacity is 
fallacious and absurd. There is a great variety of work to be done, and 
it requires in some less and in others greater ability to do it. True, the 
difierence that appears among men is often the fruit of greater industry 
and self-application; it is God's great law in nature, as in grace, that --to 
him that hath shall be. given, and from him that hath not shall be taken 
away even that which he secmeth to have." The idea is tliat the plod- 
ding, persevering man of humble abilities shall, in the end, eclipse and 
outshine the indolent, inefficient man of greater natural endowments. 
Still, there is an original difference in the texture and power of the mind 
given to different men. Our Lord tells us, in the Parable of the Talents, 
not only that men have diversities of gifts, but that those gifts are sove- 
reignly hesfoiced. God gave "to one man fivfe, to another two, and to 

(3) 



another one talent, to every man according to Ms several ahility." He 
gave to Milton, Locke, Paley and Sir Isaac Newton a much higher order 
of intellectual ability than to millions of the race. The mind of Sir 
Isaac Newton could traverse the heavens, grasp the solar system, measure 
suns and planets, and determine with the accuracy of mathematical pre- 
cision the distances of the stars; while the great majority of human 
intellects, in their feebleness, never rise above the plainest elements of 
science. 

A young man in a British University said to Paley, " What a fool you 
are to be wasting your time in idleness and dissipation. You have talents 
which might raise you to eminence, /have none; and it is of no conse- 
quence how I act." Paley took the hint, though rudely made, and rose 
like a clear light, and shed a lustre on the age and the litei'ature of his 
nation, and England boasts no son of greater acuteness, perhaps none of 
wider influence than he. 

It is, then, no disparagement to any man that he does not succeed 
equally well in every sphere. He maybe in a false position; he may 
have undertaken some other man's work. Let him find out his own field 
of labor, and go to work in it with the ability which God hath given him, 
and all will be well. God never meant that one man should do all the 
work and receive all the reward. If He had He would ncA^er have given 
to one man one talent, to another two and to another five. To the late 
Chief Magistrate of this nation, Abraham Lincoln, God gave considerably 
more than an average measure of intellectual ability. He was found 
equal to the grave questions with which he had to deal. As his admin- 
istration progressed, the loyal people of the nation were surprised and 
delighted with the mental strength, and the keen logic with which he 
grasped and cut the gnarled and knotty points of law, government and 
diplomacy, which the exigencies of the nation thrust upon his attention. 

Second — There is the pre-eminence of official positioii. Civil G overnnieut 
is of divine origin. Without it there could be neither cohesion, order 
nor protection in society. But in order to have government thei-e must 
be some one to rule and guide the affairs of the nation. The men who 
perform this important duty occupy a noble pre-eminence among their 
fellow men. Their position is one of dignity, honor and of vast respon- 
sibility. Bad men in all ages have aspired to these dignities, caring- 
little for the responsibilities; and the history of nations is very largely 
a record of their intrigues, conspiracies and crimes. But there have 
been happy exceptions to this. Wise and good men have sat upon 
thrones and swayed sceptres. The God-fearing Joseph was raised to 
the dignity of the Premiership of Egypt, the mightiest kingdom on earth. 
The prayerful Daniel was the third ruler in the kingdom of Persia. 
When Darius caiue into power he thought to set him over the whole 
realm. The devout Obediah and the pious Mordecai both lived and did 
good in positions of official trust, dignity and responsibility. David 
reigned over Israel in the fear of God, and was a man after God's own 
heart, because he administered the affiiirs of his kingdom according to 
God's will. In the house and amid the palaces of Nero there were 
saints in office. And since their day pious men have ruled in righteous- 
ness and in the fear of God. The truth is, God, in his providence, sends 
men where there is something for them to do, whether it be into the dead 
level of society or to the high places of government and power. So long 



as they can serve God and their generation in that position, it is their 
duty to remain. God took David from the sheep cote and placed him on 
the throne of Israel. He took Abraham Lincoln from the humblest 
walks of life and made him the chief ruler of this great nation. He 
fitted him by nature, gifts and graces, for the high position he occupied as 
the first ruler in the land. He acknowledged his accountability to God, 
leaned upon his arm for strength, and trusted in his wisdom for guidance. 
And now that his earthly work is done, it is earnestly to be hoped that 
he has received the reward of a good and faithful servant in that kingdom 
of eternal righteousness which no assassin shall ever enter. 

Third — There is the pre-eminence of usefulness. There are men who 
live for no end, and have no end for which to live. I had almost said 
they live in vain ; but that cannot be. A man may be a blot or a curse — 
a blank or a neutral he can never be. Some men are useful in their way, 
and to a moderate degree. They never rise to eminence or distinguish 
themselves by any deed of charity, patriotism or serviceableness to man- 
kind. Yet the man whose name shall stand out like a watch-tower on 
the roll of fame must distinguish himself in the sei'vice of mankind. He 
must be actuated with that noblest of all human feelings, the desire to 
bless with useful words and useful deeds the world in which he lives. 
There is no greatness like the greatness of being useful. The great 
teacher and benefactor of man Himself "came not to be ministered unto, 
but to "minister and to give His life a ransom ;" even He said, " He that 
will be greatest among you, let him be your minister, let him be your serv- 
ant." The way to eminence is the path of usefulness. We all instinct- 
ively feel that the man who has labored most constantly and sacrificed 
the most largely, with no motive but the consciousness of having done 
good, is the best and the greatest man among us. Matthew Hale was a 
man of this sort ; so was Wilberforce, the advocate of the West Indian 
slave J so was Howard, who visited the prison to judge its depths of 
misery; so was Luther, who toiled incessantly to clear away the sediment 
which the superstition of ages had deposited upon the cardinal doctrines 
of "the faith once delivered to the saints;" so was George Washington, 
who fought alike with sword and pen the battles of American indepen- 
dence, and so was Abraham Lincoln, who threw himself into the deadly 
breach to perpetuate the freedom and integrity of the nation. Such men 
need not seek distinction and honor. All men agree in exalting them. 
The day will not be when their names will be pronounced with any other 
than feelings of reverence, admiration and gratitude, because their's was 
the highest exhibition of disinterested love and action of .which the 
mind of man can conceive. The names of historians and poets may drop 
from the galaxy of our national firmament, but the names of such men 
posterity will not drop, nor consign to oblivion, nor suffer to die. 

II. THE GRIEF OF THE NATION FOR THE LOSS OF ITS GREAT AND 

MIGHTY MEN — " HOWL, FIR TREE, FOR THE CEDAR IS FALLEN." 

First — It is an occasion of grief that the Chief Magistrate of the na- 
tion should perish at the Jiand of an assassin. There is no sin like blood- 
guiltiness. It was charged against the Jews as the climax of their crimes 
that with wicked hands they had taken and slain the Prince of Life. 
Queen Elizabeth exclaimed, " in trust I have found treason." Ca3sar 
fell in the Senate House with twenty-three stabs, given mostly by men 



whose lives he had spared, Brutus leading them on. On Good Friday, 
the l-lth day of April, 1865, the day on which the Son of God was cru- 
cified for the sins of men, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by the hand 
of a traitor, for no fault but the greatness of his efforts to save the nation 
from the plots and conspiracies of its enemies. The crime, in its time, 
place and method, is black with meanness, cowardice and treachery. 
Human life is the gift of God, and he reserves to himself the right of 
taking it away. The only exception to this law is where life has been 
wantonly taken by the assassin. Murder was the first crime of a social 
nature committed by man, and the first penal law enacted by God was 
directed against its repetition, ''Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man 
shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made He man." The 
crime of murder is universally felt to be the greatest wrong one man can 
do to another. All men feel that the assassin is a common foe, and that 
each is interested in dragging him from his hiding place to the tribunal 
of justice. The law and the magistrate owe all their protective efficacy 
to the just horror attached to the crime of murder in all civilized society. 
The assassination of the humblest citizen would have been a fearful 
crime, and would have drawn attention to the assassin. But the murder 
of the highest ruler in the nation in cold blood, in a public place, and in 
the midsts of his friends, adds startling interest and turpitude to the 
sin. It was a ball shot at the heart of the nation. It was a blow 
aimed at the popular suffrage. It was the hand of a traitor throttling 
the life of a patriot. It was the culminati(jn of the diabolical spirit of 
rebellion, saying that the will of the majority, legally expressed, shall 
not govern ; that the honest, straightforward, liberty-loving man whom 
the people had placed at the head of the nation, should not live to ad- 
minister its affairs. The man who perpetrated this foul deed is at this 
moment the first criminal in the land. TTp to the time he imbrued his 
hands in the President's blood, he was but an indifferent stage actor, little 
cared for and little sought after. Now he is an object of universal inte- 
rest. His melancholy notoriety is the conspicuity of guilt. A thousand 
questions are asked concerning him that would not otherwise haye been 
asked. The nation is interested to know the history of his feelings, views 
and manner of life. Large rewards are offered for his arrest ; his trial 
would attract the attention of the whole civilized world, and his execution 
according to the law of God, — " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man 
shall his blood be shed," — would be universally approved. But though 
pre-eminent, he is not solitary in his guilt. Every man who has hated 
the person of Mr. Lincoln, talked disloyalty, sympathized with the spirit 
of murder, or sided Avith the treason in which it was hatched, shares the 
responsibility of this horrid crime. I have myself heard even females 
say, " Mr. Lincoln ought to be killed ; they would like to shoot him, stab 
him, poison him, or they would furnish the means to do so." Such hatred 
the sublime morality of the New Testament ranks with murder, and 
though these persons might not have actually perpetrated the bloody deed, 
yet their language, spirit and influence have helped to swell the surging 
tide of evil which culminated in the black waters of death. It is not for 
such to wash their hands before the multitude and say I am guiltless of 
the blood of this just man. No, they are responsible, they are guilty, and 
God will require it when He maketh inquisition for blood. The instant 
duty of all such is hearty repentance before God, confession before men 



and earuef^t labor to undo the ^Yrong.s of the past by sacrificinji; self in the 
interests of posterity. 

Second — It is just eause of grief that the President shcmld have fallen by 
the hand of a murderer, because it is an infraction of the law of God. What 
that law is will appear from the following Scriptures : " Let every soul 
be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God ; 
the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth 
the power, resisteth the ordinance of (lod ; and they that resist shall 
receive to themselves damnation. For the rulei'S are not a terror to good 
works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power? do 
that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same : for he is the 
minister of God to thee for good, liut if thou do that which is evil, be 
afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in A-ain : for he is the uiinister of 
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doetli evil. Wherefore 
ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience'sake." 
— llom. xiii. 1-5. 

'• Submit yourself to every ordinance oi" man for the Jjord's sake : 
whether it be to the King as supreme ', or unto Governors, as unto them 
that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise 
of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye 
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men : As free, and not using 
your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God." — 
1 Peter, ii. 13-10. 

" I exhort, therefore, that, tirst of all, supplications, prayers, interces- 
sions and giving of thanks be made for all men; for Kings and for all 
that are in authority ; that we may lead a (juiet and peaceable life in all 
godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of 
God and our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto 
the knowledge of the truth." — 1 Tim., ii. 1-4. 

These scriptures teach \is that civil government is a power ordained of 
God for the good of men ; that the civil ruler is '• the minister of God 
to terrify and punish the wicked, and to protect and encourage the good ; 
that it is our duty to submit to him and to pray for him, and thus to be 
quiet and orderly citizens. As a ruler, the late President of the United 
States was ''the minister of God," entitled to the respect, submission 
and prayers of every citizen. In slaying him the assassin violated the 
law of God, and, according to these scriptures, shall '■'receive damnation." 
He may elude the vigilance of men, but the judgment of God he cannot 
escape. He is one of the all men who shall stand before the judgment 
seat of Christ to receive according to the deeds done in his body; and we 
know that the jiulgment of God is according to truth. 

Third — But is there no relief to this dark picture ? There is. The 
affliction that is now upon this nation has not come without God's notice. 
The eye that is everywhere beholding the evil and the good, takes cogni- 
zance of this. His eye saw the hand that pointed the pistol and sent the 
death-winged ball to the brain of the President. His eye sees the assas- 
sin in his hiding place. His eye sees the tears of the widow and the 
orphans. His eye sees the nation's grief. His eye sees the path of sal- 
vation for us as a people, and in due time he will make it plain. Out of 
the evil he will educe good, and from this dark calamity shall come les- 
sons of vigilance, lessons of caution, lessons of stability, lessons of justice, 
lessons of courage, lessons of trust in God. Abraham Lincoln, an honest 



man, an exalted patriot, the friend of the poor and the oppressed, the 
nation's great and trusted friend, has been struck down by a traitor's 
hand, but the spirit of Abraham Lincohi shall live, and, Sampson like, 
his death shall slay more traitors than his life. The nation mourns his 
loss. Its great loyal sorrowing heart pours out its wail of woe for the 
great and mighty dead. But the nation shall live and pursue its mission 
of liberty, union and independence. The dead dust of the martyred 
President shall be the seed-corn from which shall grow millions of patriots 
and heroes to fight the battles of freedom, and to share the honors of the 
renewed, regenerated and consolidated nation. God speed the right I 
Long live the Ilepublic ! 

" Lives; of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime ; 
And, departing, leave behind us 
" Footprints on the sands of time. 

Footprints that, perhaps, another, 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main — 
A forlorn and shipTfrecked brother, 

Seeing, may take heart again." 






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